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From cupcakes to cronuts, fad foods in America tend to inspire a
momentary and mouthwatering mania -- until
the buzz begins to subside, waiting lists shrink and lines out
the door inevitably diminish. However, if history has anything
to say about it, the family-owned Ladurée brand is betting
that French macarons are here to stay.

The 150-year-old, meringue-based confections were conceived by a
tiny Parisian bakery that rose to prominence at the turn of the
20th century. With a brittle exterior and a bite as light as air,
Parisians flocked in droves to Earnest Louis Ladurée’s shop, one
of the city’s earliest tea salons.

The Holder family was just one of many who made the excursion to
Ladurée a Saturday morning ritual. But the Holders -- already
proprietors of several other baking franchises -- were seeking
more than just a sugary fix. In 1993, they acquired the
macaron-maker with the intention of spinning its lone shop into a
global chain.

Their timing, it turns out, was prescient. After opening a
flagship tea salon location on the Champs-Elysees in 1997, the
macaron's popularity took off. And shortly thereafter, other
countries caught wind. Today, Ladurée touts more than 40 shops in
markets as varied as England, Monaco, Japan, Turkey, Kuwait and
Saudi Arabia.

American appetites for the macaron were most notably piqued by
Sofia Coppola’s 2006 film Marie Antoinette -- in which
the pastries (furnished by Ladurée) were lavishly showcased in
soaring pyramids and vivid hues.

Today, Ladurée’s American operative is piloted by fourth
generation Holder family member, Elisabeth, and her husband,
Pierre Antoine Raberin, who moved their family overseas almost
three years ago to pursue what they deferentially call “the
American Dream.” To say that that dream has been realized today
is a testament to the family’s intuitions and an aggressive
expansion strategy.

Now, Ladurée is aiming to replicate its success on the
Champs-Elysees with its first American flagship location in New
York City, opening on Wednesday. In an exclusive interview at a
Soho construction site just weeks before its doors were slated to
open, leopard-print carpeting was being unfurled and custom white
moldings were being installed while contractors snacked on
bite-sized pastries and a buttery aroma wafted in from the
kitchen.

“Macarons are petite and pretty, like jewels,” Holder explained.
“They’re beloved by all ages and sexes -- and the fact that
they’re not easy to make only adds to their allure. But it’s also
more than just food. When customers come in to Ladurée, they feel
like they’re leaving with a quintessential piece of French
culture.”

They also represent a much-coveted token of affordable luxury. At
Ladurée’s retail store on New York's Madison Avenue, which opened
in 2011, the tiny treats sell for $2.80 a piece.

Ornate packaging (the brand’s mint green boxes are notorious) and
a sumptuous interior design ethos in the vein of Napoleon III --
antique sculptures, marble surfaces and frescoed ceilings -- have
also distinguished the storied brand from a recent crop of
competitors, Holder said. This is a vital mark of distinction
when even McDonald’s (in Europe) has started selling
macarons.

Though the New York flagship undertaking is enormous -- literally
some 5,000 square feet -- it only marks Ladurée’s first major
attempt to take a bite of the American market. This month, the
brand will unveil a smaller retail outpost in Miami that will
simply offer macarons, ice cream and champagne. And in April,
macarons will be available for purchase nationwide via a
newly-launched ecommerce site.

A family business

The transformation of an age-old confection into what feels like
a new, hot fad would suggest that a keen commercial instinct runs
through the Holder family blood. Elisabeth’s brother, David, is
the worldwide president of Ladurée. Their father, Francis, serves
as chairman of Groupe Holder and was the architect behind the
PAUL chain of bakeries that originated with one storefront in
France and now counts over 450 locations worldwide.

“When I was growing up, there was no separation between family
and business,” Elisabeth says. Work pervaded her world at an
early age, she remembers, in that it was simply a way of life. “I
can still remember seeing my grandmother behind the register at
the bakery. Any free afternoons my parents had were usually spent
in the office.”

And, as history would have it, Elisabeth seems to be repeating
this very model with her own brood. At 5, her twin sons have
already begun to show an interest in the family business, asking
questions before bedtime like, “How is bread made?” and rolling
croissants in the company kitchen alongside Ladurée’s renowned
chefs.

While other bakeries have attempted to hop on the macaron
bandwagon in recent years, Raberin’s response to the
proliferation of competitors is surprising. “I love our
competition,” he says. “In addition to being the best form of
flattery, it creates a dynamic that further feeds the macaron
movement and allows even more people to understand the power of
our brand.”